Dialogues using ACS instead of Strife scripts

[Nash]

This wad shows how you can go about creating NPCs that you can talk to, but instead of using Strife's dialogue system, it calls an ACS script.

So you can basically implement your own custom ACS dialogues. I left that part out though; what I have here is just the bare bones of how you can start doing one.

I guess I'll tackle a proper ACS dialogue tomorrow. I'm off to bed already.

WARNING: Uses a lot of shitty hacks. It's messy but it's the only way to do this with the current implementation.

EDIT: Link removed because my webhost is screwed up. Please scroll down to see attached file.

(Note: this is different from the file I posted in the Features Suggestions forum)

[solarsnowfall]

WARNING: Uses a lot of shitty hacks. It's messy but it's the only way to do this with the current implementation.

I'm sure there are many ways to go about this, I've come up with one or two myself. Even if it wasn't, as you say, messy and shitty, I personally found that in the end, it was best to use the native system that is already in place for dialogue. It's certainly hack free.

http://nash.wanzafran.com/use_actor2.zip

This link not working for anybody else?

[Nash]

None of the links to any of the files on my webspace are working.

I guess you can try again a few hours later. Something's wrong with the server.

EDIT: Regarding shitty hacks:

Well, the only way to make this work with moving actors is to exploit UsePuzzleItem. The problem with this special is that it only happens once, and it can happen when you kill the thing attached to the special.

What I did was give the things the special in their Spawn state, and remove that special when they're in pain or they die. It's not perfect; sometimes the "You can't use this here" error will slip by so what I did was I edited the LANGUAGE lump to blank that message.

It's really messy...

I agree that the built-in Strife dialogue system is the easiest, but there are some small things that can't be changed in the system that are enough to make me want to use my own script instead.

[solarsnowfall]

That must have been a short nap.

[Jimmy]

I'm getting an internal server error as well.

[Cutmanmike]

Fix it. I might use it since I have a lot of trouble understanding strife's system.

[Graf Zahl]

Then try to understand it instead of resorting to hacks that need awful tricks to work at all.

[Cutmanmike]

How awful? *is at work*

I just can't seem to figure out how to link stuff, just doesn't look right. But I don't need either just yet.

[Phobus]

Well, it can be totally horrendous and a massive pile of difficult to understand code, but that's jsut for me

[Nash]

I have to admit that Strife scripts aren't as readily readable and easy to grasp as, say, DECORATE. But yes, using it to make dialogues is less of a headache (once you get past the learning stages).

My grips with the Strife system though are:

1) Inability to completely remove "Goodbye!". There are some situations where I'd prefer the player not to be able to bail out of. With the Goodbye choice, the player can completely avoid answering a question which can be unrealistic for certain dialogue situations.

2) Inability to use a custom font. I hate the uppercase font. I have made some nice upper+lowercase fonts but they're only accesible throuhg ACS.

3) Not customizable enough - stuff like text colours, positioning, etc. This is trivial but still...

4) No dynamic text since it's a compiled script.

I'm not beating Strife scripts - I still love it, but it has its uses and unfortunately for a certain project of mine, it just doesn't cut it.

Regarding server problems - I'm still waiting for my web hoster to sort the problem out...

EDIT: Server's totally foobared. Even deleted files in the FTP can be downloaded. I can't get a hold of the guy hosting me though... :/

[Nmn]

Your server fails it hard. Can't you use mooload or 1asphost?

[Nash]

NMN - Real hard.

I hope there's enough space to attach this...